1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the manufacture of a wire harness in which a plurality of electric wires for the wire harness are arranged and connected with pressure to a connector having a plurality of pressure-terminals. Mainly, the present invention aims at a wire harness in which the electric wires provided between two connectors, which are arranged opposed to each other, are composed of cross-wiring. The present invention relates to an electric wire pressure-connecting machine for a wire harness. Also, the present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing the wire harness and also relates to a method of manufacturing the wire harness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical units incorporated into an automobile are electrically connected with each other by a wire harness. For example, as shown in FIGS. 25A to 26B, this wire harness is composed in such a manner that a plurality of connectors C.sub.1, C.sub.2 . . . (general reference character: C) are connected with each other by a plurality of electrical wires F, . . . Concerning the arrangement of the electrical wires F, as shown in FIGS. 25A and 26A, reference characters W.sub.1 and W.sub.3 represent an arrangement in which all electrical wires are arranged in parallel with each other between the connectors C. As shown in FIGS. 25B and 26B, reference characters W.sub.2 and W.sub.4 represent an arrangement in which a portion of the electrical wires or all electrical wires cross each other. Further, reference character W.sub.4 represents an arrangement of a crossover wiring F" between the connectors.
In general, in the wire harness, the electrical wire F is connected to the connector C in such a manner that a terminal is crimped to an end of the electrical wire and then inserted into a cavity formed in the connector C. However, when the above crimped-connection is conducted, it is necessary to provide a large number of processes. Therefore, when the wire harness is manufactured recently, the method of pressure-connection, the number of working processes of which is small, is adopted to connect the electrical wire F to the connector C.
This connection with pressure (referred to as pressure-connection hereinafter) is conducted as follows. The electrical wire F, the outer diameter of which is a little larger than the groove width of the pressure-terminal of the connector C, is pushed into the groove (U-slot) of the pressure-terminal of the connector C using a jig or a press machine, and the electrical wire is fixed in the groove by the action of spring-back of the pressure-terminal. At this time, not only the electrical wire F is fixed, but also the cover of the electrical wire is torn by the inner wall of the groove when the electrical wire F is pushed into the groove, so that the conductor of the electrical wire is contacted with the inner wall of the terminal for electrical communication (shown in FIGS. 5 and 6). The wire harness W.sub.1, W.sub.2, . . . (general reference character: W) is generally manufactured as follows.
In this connection, in order to simplify the explanations, as shown in FIGS. 27A and 27B, the wire harness W to be manufactured is composed of a pair of connectors C.sub.1 and C.sub.2, and electrical wires F (F.sub.1, F.sub.2, F.sub.3 and F.sub.4) which are arranged between both connectors C.sub.1 and C.sub.2. Also, as shown in FIGS. 27A and 27B, four pressure-terminals T.sub.11, T.sub.12, T.sub.13 and T.sub.14 are respectively attached to the connector C.sub.1, and four pressure-terminals T.sub.21, T.sub.22, T.sub.23 and T.sub.24 are respectively attached to the connector C.sub.2. In this case, these pressure-terminals are represented by the general reference character T. In FIG. 27A represents a parallel wiring, and FIG. 27B represents a cross wiring. Concerning the apparatus in which the above pressure-connecting process is conducted, the specific structure is explained in detail in the embodiment. Therefore, the apparatus is not shown here, and only a model is illustrated in FIGS. 28A to 28D.
In general, in this pressure-connecting apparatus, the electrical wires are connected to the connector C with pressure one by one. As shown in FIGS. 28A to 28D, this pressure-connecting apparatus includes: a pressure-blade 61 for connecting the electrical wires F to the pressure-terminal of the connectors C.sub.1 and C.sub.2 with pressure; an electrical wire feed section 62 for feeding the electrical wires F to a portion close to the end of the pressure-blade 61 on the pressure-connection side; and a cutting blade 63 for cutting the electrical wires. All parts are moved in the three dimensional directions by a moving mechanism not shown in the drawing. In this way, there is formed a pressure-connecting and wiring head (pressure-connecting and wiring machine) by which the electrical wires F are connected to the connectors C.sub.1 and C.sub.2 with pressure and the electrical wires F are drawn out so as to lay electrical wires between the connectors C.sub.1 and C.sub.2. In FIGS. 28A to 28D, reference numeral 64 is a lower blade for cutting the electrical wires F in cooperation with the cutting blade 63.
First, as shown in FIG. 28A, two connectors C.sub.1 and C.sub.2 are set at predetermined positions on the working table 65. The pressure-blade 61 of the pressure-connecting and wiring head is moved immediately above the groove of the pressure-terminal T.sub.11 of one C.sub.1 of the connectors. During this movement or immediately after the completion of movement, the electrical wires F are fed from the electrical wire feed section 62 to a space between the pressure-blade 61 and the pressure-terminal.
Successively, as shown in FIG. 28B, the pressure-blade 61 is lowered and connects the electrical wire F to the groove of the pressure-terminal T.sub.11 with pressure. Although not shown in the drawing, after the completion of pressure-connection, the pressure-blade 61 is moved upward and set at a high position where the pressure-blade 61 is completely separate from the connector C.sub.1. Then, the pressure-connecting and wiring head is moved horizontally, and the pressure-blade 61 comes to a position immediately above the groove of the pressure-terminal T.sub.21 of the other C.sub.2 of the connectors. During this movement, the electrical wire F is drawn out from the electrical wire feed section 62, and the electrical wire F is laid between the pressure-terminals T.sub.11 and T.sub.21 of the connectors C.sub.1 and C.sub.2.
After the horizontal movement of the pressure-connecting and wiring head has been completed, as shown in FIG. 28C, the pressure-blade 61 is lowered again and connects the electrical wire to the groove of the pressure-terminal T.sub.21 with pressure. At this time, simultaneously with the pressure-connection, or immediately after the pressure-connection as shown in FIG. 28D, after the pressure-blade 61 has been moved upward, the cutting blade 63 is lowered and cuts the electrical wire which extends from the pressure-terminal T.sub.21 of the connector C.sub.2 to the right in the drawing. In this way, the connection between the pressure-terminals T.sub.11 and T.sub.21 is completed, and the electrical wire F.sub.1 is arranged.
After that, the pressure-connecting and wiring head is moved upward and set at a high position where both pressure-blades 61 and the cutting blade 63 are completely separate from the connector C.sub.2. Then, the pressure-connecting and wiring head is moved to the left in FIG. 28A and set at a position where the pressure-blade 61 is located immediately above the groove of the second pressure-terminal T.sub.12 of the connector C.sub.1. At this time, when the pressure-connecting and wiring head is moved, the electrical wires are not drawn out, but only the head is moved.
In the above state, the electrical wire F is connected again to the groove of the pressure-terminal T.sub.12 of the connector C.sub.1. In the same manner as described above, the pressure-connecting head (pressure-blade 61) is lowered (pressure-connected) and moved upward. Then the pressure-connecting head (pressure-blade 61) is moved horizontally, that is, wiring is conducted. In this way, the pressure-terminal T.sub.12 is connected to the pressure-terminal T.sub.22. The pressure-terminal T.sub.13 is connected to the pressure-terminal T.sub.23. The pressure-terminal T.sub.14 is connected to the pressure-terminal T.sub.24. At the same time, the electrical wires F.sub.2, F.sub.3 and F.sub.3 are arranged. In this way, the manufacture of the wire harness W is completed.
The above manufacturing process can be applied to not only the parallel wiring W.sub.1, W.sub.3 shown in FIGS. 25A and 26A but also the cross wiring W.sub.2, W.sub.4 shown in FIGS. 25B and 26B. For example, as shown in FIG. 27B, the pressure-terminals T.sub.11 and T.sub.24 are connected to the electrical wire F with pressure, and the pressure-terminals T.sub.14 and T.sub.21 are connected to the electrical wire F with pressure, so that the electrical wires cross each other. In the manufacturing process, when the number of the electrical wires arranged between the connectors is four, it is necessary for the pressure-connecting and wiring head to be horizontally reciprocated by four times, and when the number of the electrical wires arranged between the connectors is "n", it is necessary for the pressure-connecting and wiring head to be horizontally reciprocated by "n" times.
When a plurality of electrical wires F are connected to the connector C with pressure one by one as described above, it is advantageous in that the above method can be applied to various wiring specifications. However, when the above method is applied, it is necessary for the pressure-connecting and wiring head to be moved for each electrical wire. Therefore, the connecting work becomes very complicated.
In order to simplify the above movement of the pressure-connecting and wiring head, with respect to the wire harness W.sub.1 shown in FIG. 25A in which all electrical wires F are arranged in parallel with each other between the connectors C, a plurality of pressure-blades 61 are arranged, and all electrical wires are connected to the connector C with pressure all at once. Due to the foregoing, as long as the integrated pressure-blades 61, the number of which is the same as the number of the electrical wires, are used, the pressure-connecting and wiring head may be reciprocated between the connectors C in the transverse direction in FIGS. 25A and 25B only once, irrespective of the number of the electrical wires arranged between both connectors C. Further, both connectors C may be moved in the vertical direction only once for the pressure-connection. Therefore, the number of movements of the head can be remarkably reduced, and the working efficiency can be enhanced.
However, in the case of a cross-wiring and also in the case of a wiring in which the numbers of pressure-connections of the connectors C are different from each other and also in the case of a crossover-wiring shown in FIGS. 25B, 26A and 26B, concerning the wire harness W, it is impossible to use the pressure-blade 61 in which a plurality of pressure-blades are integrated into one body, because the number and the position of pressure-connections can not be changed in each pressure-connecting action.
Therefore, concerning the wire harness W of cross-wiring, at present, they have no option but to use the method in which one set of the pressure-blade 61 and the cutting blade 63 are used for connecting the electrical wires F, F" with pressure one by one and also the head composed of only the electrical wire feed section 62 is used, and these parts are frequently moved for the pressure-connecting motion.
However, the structure of electrical units becomes complicated in these days, and the wire harness W.sub.1, in which all electrical wires F are arranged in parallel with each other, is seldom used, and most of the wire harness are of the type of cross-wiring W.